The edges of metal objects are subject to deterioration resulting from use. Turbine components, for instance, deteriorate from friction due to normal movement, as well as wear, erosion and corrosion from use in the fluid medium. In particular, very expensive jet engine turbine vanes experience erosion wear on their leading and trailing edges during operation. This progressive deterioration of the vanes reduces the efficiency of the turbine. Eventually, the vane chord width and vane thickness are reduced below the minimum allowable serviceable limits, resulting in mandatory disposal or repair of the excessively worn vane.
To preclude disposal of such expensive vanes, various repair methods have been devised with their object being the restoration of the vanes to serviceable dimensions. Small vane irregularities are typically blended out by filing or sanding. If the vane is bent, a more complex process of major reshaping by the application of a mechanical force and heat to the metal is used. Small cracks are often welded, and various braze alloys have been used to fill surface irregularities and to build up surface dimensions. None of the prior art methods, however, disclose a technique for restoring the trailing edge of a turbine vane to blueprint dimensions when it is worn beyond specified limits without the introduction of a significant thermally induced stress gradient, such as that resulting from an electron beam weld repair.